2022. 11. 10 – 12. 17
Chae Jimin

ATELIER AKI happily presents a solo exhibition by artist Chae Jimin, who showcases a new perspective on flat-plane painting from November 10 to December 17. Chae Jimin has been using the most important element in a painting, the vanishing point as a paradox, thus establishing the flatness of the canvas as an unstable structure, and building a new perspective on the flat-plane painting. This exhibition is the artist’s first solo exhibition at ATELIER AKI, which showcases a new series of 15 paintings. The works were created in collaboration with the brand COOR, building a new relational narrative by capturing a real individual as dual elements on the screen.

Chae Jimin places objects formed from the fragments of images found in everyday life on the canvas in a carefully planned structure based on the vanishing point. The combination of art, daily life, reality, and unreality are placed in artificially arranged planes with unique color combinations that recreate a sense of space expressed from the clear structure set by the artist in two dimensions, which constantly produce a sense of visual separation. The artist looks at the screen he created with a contemplative eye from a certain distance, and explores the possibility of a pictorial space while adhering to the fundamentals of flat painting and the image itself.

The narrative of this exhibition, which consists of new works, revolves around a character who exists as a stranger to his surroundings. The artist’s on-screen character, which represents James Lee McQuown, a real person, embodies a dual role as the main character and an observer. The character, whose specific purpose and act of “Walk, Stop, and Look” has been delegated by the artist, connects the individual scenes laid out across a huge space as the character passes, creating and dismantling the ambiguous boundaries of the work. Referring to the harmony and collision between the structures, planes, and colors accurately woven according to the geometric order as “silent separation”, the artist hopes the character’s journey on the screen will speak to the audience seamlessly.

The works presented in this exhibition are works that are a result of a multi-collaboration with artist Chae Jimin, contemporary fashion brand COOR and model James Lee McQuown. The artist pays attention to the stubborn monotony of COOR, a brand that is faithful to the essence of minimal design clothing, and the calm and inconspicuous nature of the character the artist expects from the character on his screen. For the new works, the artist specifically casted model James Lee McQuown, who the artist had been paying attention to since he started his artistic journey, and put him in the clothes made by brand COOR. The planned and clearly intended motion of walking, stopping and looking, is ironically the result of the harmonious collaboration projected on the screen of an artist who has pursued a visual sense of separation for the longest time.

Chae Ji-min graduated from Seoul National University of Fine Arts with a degree in Western painting and a master’s degree in Western painting from Chelsea College of Art & Design in London. He showed his works at major domestic and foreign institutions such as Hangaram Art Museum, Gwangju Culture and Arts Center, Chosun Ilbo Art Museum, Noblesse Collection, London Griffin Gallery, London Soho Revue Gallery, New York Art Mora Gallery, New York BBCN Bank, Shanghai KIC Art Center, and participated in the New York AHL Foundation Residency Program in 2015. In particular, the artist proved his position in the international art world by selling out all of his entries at Art Basel in 2018. Chae Jimin is active at home and abroad through a number of exhibitions in Korea, London, and New York.

ATELIER AKI
1F Galleria Forêt 32-14, Seoulsup 2-gil, Seongdong-gu, 04769, Seoul, Korea
+82 2 464 7710

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